Art

04/20/2015

The musical genre of Narcocorridos uses sousaphones and accordions to provide a pleasant polka-like backdrop for lyrics that sensationalize the exploits of Mexican drug cartels. There has been a surge of violence against young narcocorridos singers in Mexico, resulting in many deaths and injuries.

There's a parallel between Narcocorridos and American Gangsta Rap, in that some say the music merely tells a story based off real life violence and crime while others say it feeds the very crime it sings about. As with all controversial music, there is an ongoing debate over whether or not the art promotes acts of gruesome violence or simply provides a narrative to illegal goings on. It's known that some corridos performers have actually accepted money from cartels to write about them, perhaps this is similar to paying for advertisement. Regardless, Mexican authorities have taken upon themselves to make Narcocorridos music illegal in certain parts of the country.

This brings up obvious concerns of freedom of speech, but the immediate concern is to limit the distribution of the music. Promotion of the genre has been limited in Chihuaha, with any violators facing fines or jail time. Chihuahua is one of several states that is currently facing restrictions in Anti-Corrido legislation. Prohibition of free speech is a problem throughout the world, but this one seems to be in its own category. One of Mexico's biggest problems is drug-cartel-related-violence, and when shootings happen at concerts it's not just the performers whose lives re in danger. Maybe in this case, free speech can be too much of a good thing.

03/20/2015

In 2012, a 23 year old female student in Delhi along with a male companion were victims of a vicious assault. The young woman had been brutally gang raped on a public bus for several hours before being left to fight for her life in a hospital. In the end her injuries were so bad that she died from them. Wishing to shed light on the crime, director Leslee Udwin interviewed one of the rapists in prison and made a documentary about it. The documentary titled "India's Daughter" has been banned from release in India.

Every country has problems with different forms of censorship, but one must wonder with India being the world's largest democracy, why is free speech being stifled? The home minister Rajnath Singh conveyed a feeling of shame brought to his country by the words of the rapist, Mukesh Singh. He and many others believe that the film glorifies the criminal and gives him a platform to share his sick and perverted views on women's place in Indian society. As noble of a gesture as this might be, banning the film undermines a much larger problem in Indian culture; despite being such an advanced nation, India is another in a long list of countries that suffers from misogynistic societal norms.

These norms include but are not limited to the popular South Asian practice of "Eve Teasing". Eve Teasing is in its simplest form, sanctioned sexual harassment. Women in South Asiancountries experience constant verbal abuse, groping, pinching, pushing, and poking from men who are just having "fun" in one of the most juvenile ways they can. There's a slew of laws and practices that value men over women in this culture, and perhaps that is the reason why showing this movie has been banned; it might not be that the country will be ashamed that five Indian men committed such an atrocity, but rather that the views expressed by these rapists coincide with views expressed by many people who have been raised in the same culture. The director (right) of the documentary has said that her work can be used as a "powerful tool for change".

The documentary has been unofficially screened in the slum homes of the rapists, and will hopefully be shown to more upper class Indian residents to enlighten them not only to the mindset of the men who committed the crime, but also to the underlying problem that as long as societies throughout the world, not just in India, continue to devalue women, these atrocities will continue to happen.

03/04/2015

Popular all over the world, Japanese animation (Commonly known as anime) has become a multibillion Yen export. Lots of Anime series and movies are based off their illustrated counterparts, Manga (Japanese comic books). If a single story is created in manga form, chances are it can be turned into an anime series, launch action figure, video game, and apparel sales, even inspire live action films. In some cases, theme parks could even spawn from the womb of artful creation that is manga/anime.

In 2009 Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso aimed to create 500,0oo new jobs, raise exports of Japanese "soft power" (Anime, film, manga, games, etc.) from 2% to 18% and in doing so, save the economy. Since Japan relies so heavily on overseas sales, it's no wonder the popular anime/manga series Dragon Ball Z (above) has made its comeback in the last few years.

Although the series ended in 2003, Akira Toriyama's brainchild has still maintained a cult following, remaining one of the most popular anime series in the world. DBZ's follow up series Dragon Ball GT, not so much. Even though the series ended in 2003, it was remastered, re-edited and re-released in 2009 as Dragon Ball Z Kai. The series has still retained its popularity, tying with Spongebob Squarepants in cable TV ratings just last month. 2013 saw a new feature length animated film carrying the title of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods. (right)This film was greatly anticipated by the American fans who grew up in the 90's watching the original show. It's anticipation was met with a theatrical release in over 350 theaters in the U.S. and Canada in August of 2014.

The trailer for another DBZ film, "Resurrection of F" (below) has just surfaced all over the internet, exciting fans worldwide. Some may have criticisms of the film but regardless, another film has emerged from a franchise thought to be dead! This is closely following the American release of the video game Dragon Ball Xenoverse (left) in the U.S. This is a win-win for fans of the franchise, but also for the Japanese economy which has been following through on their plan to revitalize through the creation and export of more anime/manga, and other soft power products. Perhaps this is contributing the the upward trend the Japanese economy is predicted to have this year.

03/02/2015

It's no secret that Japan and China have a very brutal and bloody history . China's malice towards Japan goes back ages, some of the most prominent conflicts between them being the Nanjing Massacre and the Japanese atrocities of World War II. China's hate for everything Japanese is prevalent, especially in 2012 when anti-Japanese protests resulted in the vandalizing and destruction of any Japanese stores or stores selling Japanese goods; during these acts of violence protesters were met with no resistance from Chinese law enforcement.

So keeping in mind how much distaste the Communist-run country holds for Japan, it becomes even more of a point to note that one of the hottest commodities in China is Japanese Pornography. The Chinese Communist Party does not allow porn in the country, they've even gone to such lengths as to hire officers to keep track of and censor pornography in China. Still, where there's a will there's a way. From bootlegged DVD's to torrent downloading, Japanese porn is one of the many vices that has found its way into the Chinese underground culture.

Japanese adult film Actresses have shown interest in helping to aid the relief of China's citizens in more ways than one. Japanese porn stars such as Sora Aoi (now retired, right) have joined Chinese social media sites, visited the country, and helped raise money for Chinese charities and disaster reliefs. Capitalizing on their fame in China, these actresses seem to have becomeunofficial ambassadors who are subtly smoothing over tensions in their rival countries.

China's official news agency Xinhua has perhaps inadvertently shown support for the Japanese adult industry by listing the twitter page "Absolute JP Porn" as one of the pages it follows. This seems like too much of a publicity nightmare to be true, but there is visual evidence showing Xinhua as a follower of a site that they should have no part in. There were also rumors that a Chinese company called "Qihoo 360" offered a night with Japanese porn star Julia Kyoka (left) to its male employees as an incentive award for successful employees come Chinese New Year. Qihoo 360 has since denied that there ever was such an award, probably to the dismay of many a lonely worker of the firm.

It's hard to take the idea seriously, that Japanese pornography might be the one way to link two cultures that have been at odds for decades. Japanese porn thriving in a country where there would normally be zero demand for such entertainment is another example of media making the world a little bit smaller by bridging cultural gaps. Perhaps the presence of a genre that many consider to be filth has begun to extinguish a fire that has been burning for too long.

02/04/2015

Ever since its inception in New York, Hip Hop/Rap has become a voice for the voiceless, speaking out against social injustices. Urban youth were let down by America and created an art form with which to strike back and claim an empowerment that would help their voice span the globe.

This is the case in North Africa as many rappers have emerged as a result of corrupt politics, conflict, and revolution. Though their lyrics are not in English, their message is clear: "We want change." Revolution has occurred in places like Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Libya, but some artists feel there has not been any change. They've used their lyrics encouraging people to become more politically conscious as well as call out corrupt government officials and institutions. Rap has now become the unofficial soundtrack for revolution.

Among these rappers is "El Général" who in 2010 released a song called "Rais Le Bled" which translates to "Head of State" in English. The song spoke out against former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. El Général was arrested in 2011 for this track, and released after three days of interrogation. Social media helped his cause as it does many rappers of the region. The track was released on YouTube and was able to circumnavigate the world. This is the case with the majority of North African rappers who don't need to professionally record and produce their music, lest they be censored by the powers that control media distribution. Using Hip Hop and the internet in tandem have made it an unstoppable force, helping these artists to gain international fame. With that fame, comes their message and themes of political consciousness. These rappers have actually been able to develop an American fan base, and visit New York to perform in the home of Hip Hop.

In some ways, American Hip Hop has devolved from political activism to promoting consumerism, lavish lifestyles, violence, drug use and sexual promiscuity. It's because of this modern mainstream music that Hip Hop is berated for having an adverse effect on those who listen to it, primarily modern youth; Parents groups will say Hip Hop has no place as an art form, or even as music. They'll say that it influences listeners to act out the lyrics they hear in songs and take after the rappers that sing them. Hopefully in this case, Hip Hop's detractors are correct. If music can influence listeners that much, then perhaps revolutionary lyrics can shake modern day youth out of apathy and into a role of self-empowerment and self-advocacy; to fight for the future they will one day be responsible for.

12/18/2012

At some point in 2010, I began to see incredible pictures popping up on my Facebook feed. They had borders, blurred edges and filters. “Wow Cory’s a good photographer, I never knew”. Turns out Cory, as well over 80 other million users, have logged onto Instagram. Instagram.com describes the experience as “Snap a photo with your mobile phone, then choose a filter to transform the image into a memory to keep around forever.” These photographs continue to come up on my Facebook feed, and they certainly are beautiful to look at, but I wondered if this new advent would piss off professionally trained photographers.

The art critic Michael Glover recently commented on the new user-photography phenomenon by saying, "Photography has become so thoroughly prostituted as a means of visual exchange, available to all or none for every purpose under the sun that it is easy to forget that until recently one of the most important consequences of fearless photographic practice was to tell the truth about power." He certainly won’t be logging into Instagram any time soon. And it doesn’t sound like Chris Ziegler of the site “The Verge” will either. “The Verge” is a website that covers tech, science, art & culture. Ziegler recently called these photos “damaged photos”. Maybe Ziegler will come around, but right now he sounds like a typical hyper-critical tech guy. There are those though, who embrace Instagram in the field of photography. I often log on to Scott Schuman’s fashion blog “The Sartorialist”, where he uploads portrait photographs taken with a Digital SLR, and Instagram. Both turn out beautiful, perhaps the SLR one’s more, but they are all produced from a professional. Another professional photographer, Peter Essick, who works for National Geographic recently said that he “looks at it as another medium to use as a photographer.”

Whatever the “art world” has to say about Instagram and other filters apps, it doesn’t speak nearly as loud as the actual Instagram community. The creators of instagram said “We love taking photos. We always assumed taking interesting photos required a big bulky camera and a couple years of art school. But as mobile phone cameras got better and better, we decided to challenge that assumption.” That challenge has produced a simple way to produce unique images, after all, 80 million plus people are currently enjoying it.

There are many environmental movements today, some being successfully executed, and some struggling to get results. One common saying to those who advocate progressive environmental measures is that it should start with the children. When I was in elementary school in the 90’s I remember that we planted one tree every couple of arbor days, ( this all being negated by the fact that our principal had the mature oaks taken down because perhaps their branches would fall on some shade-loving parents.) And other than the occasional thought, these were practically non-existent. Today in the school district that I work for, vegetable gardens have been created, and other types of gardens for study. Another form of this education that I found out about recently was environmental online games.

Now I immediately become skeptical about this because while a child can learn about these pressing issues, and plant trees online, aren’t they better off going outside and planting? Either way maybe I can kind of agree that this is a step in the right direction. Regarding the medium of online gaming, makeuseof.com says, “Children can immediately learn that each action has a contributing effect. Plus, these interactive educational websites on the environment make both the teaching and learning enjoyable without losing out on the lessons”. One online game called the “Climate Challenge” from http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climate_challenge/ , was actually pretty enjoyable and educational. It is perhaps for the tween to teenage crowd. It involves the player having to invest in environmental measures put forth by the government at the local, state, and national level. With each decision and subsidy, money is depleted and only a few measures can be taken each year.

A game that is for kids and tweens would be the game “Acid Lake” . In this game, you are taken through various stages of a lake with the pH scale. It gives children easily memorized facts, and has pictures that accompany the information. This is a simple and basic way for children to learn about one aspect of climate change.

11/18/2012

There are many environmental movements today, some being successfully executed, and some struggling to get results. One common saying to those who advocate progressive environmental measures is that it should start with the children. When I was in elementary school in the 90’s I remember that we perhaps planted one tree every couple of arbor days, ( this all being negated by the fact that our principal had the mature oaks taken down because perhaps their branches would fall on some shade-loving parents.) And other than the occasional thought, these were practically non-existent. Today in the school district that I work for, vegetable gardens have been created, and other types of gardens for study. Another form of this education that I found out about recently was environmental online games.

Now I immediately become skeptical about this because while a child can learn about these pressing issues, and plant trees online, aren’t they better off going outside and planting? Either way maybe I can kind of agree that this is a step in the right direction. Regarding the medium of online gaming, makeuseof.com says, “Children can immediately learn that each action has a contributing effect. Plus, these interactive educational websites on the environment make both the teaching and learning enjoyable without losing out on the lessons”. One online game called the “Climate Challenge” from http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climate_challenge/ , was actually pretty enjoyable and educational. It is perhaps for the tween to teenage crowd. It involves you having to invest in environmental measures put forth by the government at the local, state, and national level. With each decision and subsidy, money is depleted and only a few measures can be taken each year.

A game that is for kids and tweens would be the game “Acid Lake” . In this game, you are taken through various stages of a lake with the pH scale. It gives children easily memorized facts, and has pictures that accompany the information. This is a simple and basic way for children to learn about one aspect of climate change.

At some point in 2010, I began to see incredible pictures popping up on my Facebook feed. They had borders, blurred edges and filters. “Wow Cory’s a good photographer, I never knew”. Turns out Cory, as well over 80 other million users, have logged onto Instagram. Instagram.com describes the experience as “Snap a photo with your mobile phone, then choose a filter to transform the image into a memory to keep around forever.” These photographs continue to come up on my Facebook feed, and they certainly are beautiful to look at, but I wondered if this new advent would piss off professionally trained photographers.

The art critic Michael Glover recently commented on the new user-photography phenomenon by saying, "Photography has become so thoroughly prostituted as a means of visual exchange, available to all or none for every purpose under the sun that it is easy to forget that until recently one of the most important consequences of fearless photographic practice was to tell the truth about power." He certainly won’t be logging into Instagram any time soon. And it doesn’t sound like Chris Ziegler of the site “The Verge” will either. “The Verge” is a website that covers tech, science, art & culture. Ziegler recently called these photos “damaged photos”. Maybe Ziegler will come around, but right now he sounds like a typical hyper-critical tech guy. There are those though, who embrace Instagram in the field of photography. I often log on to Scott Schuman’s fashion blog “The Sartorialist”, where he uploads portrait photographs taken with a Digital SLR, and Instagram. Both turn out beautiful, perhaps the SLR one’s more, but they are all produced from a professional. Another professional photographer, Peter Essick, who works for National Geographic recently said that he “looks at it as another medium to use as a photographer.”

Whatever the “art world” has to say about Instagram and other filters apps, it doesn’t speak nearly as loud as the actual Instagram community. The creators of instagram said “We love taking photos. We always assumed taking interesting photos required a big bulky camera and a couple years of art school. But as mobile phone cameras got better and better, we decided to challenge that assumption.” That challenge has produced a simple way to produce unique images, after all, 80 million plus people are currently enjoying it.

11/12/2012

Being that I am an extreme lover of the arts, I am infatuated with
the various creative visions and messages that are given off from different
works of art. Aside from traditional forms of art such as paintings and
sculptures, the digital revolution has contributed to the creation of films and
other forms of art that are able to reach broader audiences.

In a TED Talk entitled “Shirin Neshat: Art in Exile”, a Persian artist named Shirin Neshat spoke about
how she has lived in the United States, in a self-imposed exile from her native
country, Iran. In the video Neshat spoke about how things were when she lived
in Iran, and how things changed for the worse once she went back to Iran as an
adult. According to Neshat, her people have been fighting a battle against
their regime and “government that has done every crime to remain in power”.

Many artists like Neshat are at risk because they pose as a threat to
the structure of their government. The intentions of artists like Neshat are to
“inspire, provoke, mobilize, report and bring hope to their people”. After
visiting Iran as an adult and viewing a country that she could no longer
recognize, she became immersed in the study of the Islamic Revolution, and how
it dramatically transformed the lives of Iranian women. According to the video,
Neshat found the way that Iranian women embodied the political transformation
of their government to be very interesting. She thus thought by studying a
woman she could read and analyze the structure and ideologies of Iranian
culture.

During her time studying Iranian women, Neshat produced a collection that
addressed and focused on these issues, and the concept of “those who willingly
stand in the intersection of their love of God and faith, but violence, crime,
and cruelty”. In 2009, Neshat produced a film entitled Women Without Men, which
explored and compared the rights of Iranian women in 1953 and today. This film
was based off of a novel written by an Iranian woman named Shahrnush Parsipur,
who was sent to jail for 5 years for writing this book.

Although Neshat does not have direct access to her country, she finds
herself to be the voice of her people. The works of artist’s like Shirin Neshat
should be heavily applauded, and need to be exposed so that they could continue
to provoke the minds of their audiences. Without the expansion of the digital
revolution, the issues that these artists try to address would have never
been able to reach the amount of individuals that it has.

Below is the TED Talk that I watched entitled, Shirin Neshat: Art in exile: